Machine for making wire hoops.



No. 746,442. PATENTED DEC. 8, 1903. A. J. BATES.

I MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLIOATION FILED 00w. 5, 1903.

N 6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

w: "0mm PETERS cov PHOTQ-HIHO. WASHINGTON, n, c.

No. 746,442. PATENTED DEG-8,1903.

A. J. BATES.

MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLIOATION FILED 00w. 5, 1903.

no MODEL. e sums-SHEET 2.

PATENTED DEC. 8, 1903. A. J. BATES. MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5, 1903.

6 SHEETSSHBET 3 N0 MODEL.

No. 746,442. PATENTED DEC. 8, 1903. A. J. BATES.

MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5, 1903. N0 MODEL.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

PATENTED DEC. 8, 1903.

A. J. BATES. MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 5, 1903.

6 SHEETSSHEET 5.

N0 MODEL.

No. 746,442. PATENTED DEC. 8, 1903.

A. J. BATES. MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 5, 1903.

NO MODEL. 6 SHEETSSHEBT G.

No. 746,442 Patented December 8, 1903.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT J. BATES, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN STEEL dz WIRE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR MAKING WIRE HOOPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 74 da December 1903- Applioation filed October 5, 1903. Serial No. 175,879. lNo model.)

To all whom it may concern: and c e, that are free to revolve in the usual Be it known that I, ALBERT J. BATES, a way, and the wire is drawn from the supply citizen of the United States, residing at Joliet, spool or coil through these rolls by a pair of county of Will, State ofIllinois,haveinvented feed-rolls ff, the lower one of which,f, is 5 5 certain new and useful Improvements in Mamounted on a shaft g, that is continuously chines for Making Wire Hoops; and I do driven,and the upper one ofwhichis mounted hereby declare the following to he a full, clear, on a short shaft h, that lies above and parallel and exact description of the invention, such with shaft g and is driven therefrom through as willenableothers skilled in the art to which the intermediacy of gears t' t" on the ends of 60 I it appertains to make and use the same. the shafts nearest the rolls.

The invention relates to machines for mak- The main shaft of the machine is denoted ing wire hoops for barrels, kegs, and the like, byj. It is continuously driven from a crossand especially to such of these machines shaft k by means of a pinion meshing with a where the wire is fed endwise around a circubevel-gear l on one end of the shaftj. The 65 r lar or annular mandrel or former until the shaft]: has alarge gearwheel on one end, and leading end laps over the running part, when the shaft g of the lower feed-roll f is driven the overlapped portions are gripped, the part from this wheel by an intermediate idler n, of the wire forming the hoop is cut from the which is preferably mounted on an arm 0, that supply-strand, and the overlapping portions is adjustably secured to one of the frame- 70 are twisted together between the grippers to standards, so as to permit the feed-rolls to be complete the hoop. driven at different speeds by the substitution The invention is illustrated in the accomof idlers of different sizes.

panying drawings, forming part of this speci- The shaft of the upper feed-roll is mounted fication, wherein at one end in a yoke 19, that is free to slide on 75 Figure l is a plan of the entire machine, posts r0, rising vertically from the beda, and

only a small portion of the bed-plate being the yoke is held normally in an elevated poomitted. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the sition, so as to keep the feed-rolls apart by line 2 2 of FIg. 1. Fig. 3isa vertical section means of strong springs q, that are coiled taken parallel with Fig. 2 on the line 3 3 of around the posts and react between the bed a 80 Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side View of the entire and the under side of the yoke. The upper machine. Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevation of ends of the posts are provided with nuts and the machine looking in the direction of the washers tolimit theyokes upward movement, arrow in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is an enlarged secand to a sleeve on one of the posts is pivoted tion on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a an arm 3, that extends toward the front end 85 detail perspective of the rod by means of of the machine, where it has an adjustable which the hoop-clamp is operated. Fig. 8 is connection with a rod 25, which extends down a detail elevation of the cam which operates through the bed Ct and is connected to a lever to lift the upper feed-roll. Fig. 9 is a detail a, pivoted to one of the standards b. The section of the hoop-disoharger and the cam lever is held by a light spring 00, coiled around 90 which controls its movement. Fig. 10 is an the rod If against the under side of a cam o, enlarged elevation of the twisted portion of that is adjustably secured to the gear-wheel a hoop formed by the machine. Fig. 11 is a Z on the end of the main shaftj, and once in detail of the gripper-jaws in plan. every revolution of the wheel the arm is Referring to the views, a denotes the bedpulled down, so as to overcome the upward 5 5 plate of the machine, I) b the vertical standstress of the springs q q and automatically ards, and c c the horizontal cross-bars of the cause the upper feed-roll to engage the wire frame which supports the shafts and gearing lying on the lower roll. The connection bethat'drive the operative parts and on which tween the lever s and the yoke which carries the bed or table a is erected. the shaft of the upper feed-roll is made by I00 The front end of the machine is provided means of a hand-lever to, that is pivoted to with series of small straightening-rolls (Z (Z l the levers and bears on top of an arched plate-spring y, secured between the posts rr above the yoke, so that when the lever 10 is in the position shown in the drawings the depression of the arm 5 causes the rolls to grip the wire and feed it into the machine; but when the lever is reversed there is no connection between the yoke and the arm 5 and the springs q q are free toraise the upper roll sufiiciently above the lower one to stop the feeding of the wire, but not so far as to separate the pinions t t", which always remain in mesh. By this arrangement the automatic feeding of the wire may be discontinued and resumed at the will of the operator.

The hoop-forming mechanism consists generally of an annular mandrel or former, into and around the interior of which the wire passes end wise. It is located at one side of the line of feed, so that the wire will pass into it at a tangent, as best shown in Fig. 1, where a is a fixed circular plate that is secured to the bed of the machine, and Z) 19 are semi-annular rings that are secured to the plate and are provided with grooves c on their inner faces to receive the wire as it comes from a straight guide d, into which it passes from the feed-rolls. The ring 6 is adjustable on the plate a toward and from the ring b by means of bolts 6 on the under side of the ring sliding in slots g in the ring ct, so that the diameter of the mandrel or former may be increased or diminished to make large or small hoops, and between the ends of the semi-annular rings there are removably secured to the plate ct small blocks h, corresponding in cross-section to the rings, the object of this arrangement being to m aintain a practical continuity for the rings by providing for the substitution of other blocks as the space between the ends of the rings is increased or diminished.

Within the circle described by the rings 6 b on the side nearest the line of wire there are two quadrantshaped filling-blocksjj, whose outer edges fit sufficiently close to the inner face of the ring I) to prevent the wire from being accidentally dislodged from the groove 0, but not so as to prevent the Wire being lifted therefrom when the hoops are completed. On the other side of the circle described by the rings there is a semicircular clamp which is adapted to completely close at intervals the groove in the ring Z) which is farther from the incoming wire and Where the liability of accidental and premature escape of the wireis greatest. The means forepcrating this clamp will be described later on.

As the wire is fed into the mandrel it passes through a twister Z of ordinary construction, that is housed in a casing 077., securely fastened down on the bed a, so that the circle described the groove 0 in the ring (2 passes through the center of the twister, and both the twister and its casing are slotted, as best shown in Fig. 3, to permit the hoop to be lifted out when completed. The twister is rotated intermittently by means of a gear 71, which projects upward through a slot in the bed a from a shaft 0, that is journaled parallel with and above the main shaftj. The teeth of the gear 17. mesh directly with similar teeth on the periphery of the twister, as shown in Fig. 3, and the shaft 0 is driven intermittently from the main shaft by means of the mutilated gearsp q, the former of which is on the main shaft and has a delay-rim r where the teeth are omitted, and the latter of which has a shoe 3, adapted to fit and slide on the rim in a wellknown manner. The wheels revolve in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 5, and for the sake of security and certainty of operation the first tooth t of the segment on the gear p and the corresponding tooth on the gear q are made about double the thickness of the other teeth. When a sui'ficient length of wire has been fed through the twister to form a hoop, with the leading end overlapping the standing part, a gripper which straddles the twister comes into play and seizes the two wires on each side of the twister, the wire forming the hoop being severed at the same time from the main length. The gripper is composed of fixed jaws u, adjustably secured to blocks rising from the bed a, one on each side of the twistercasing, and a pair of oppositely-disposed movable jaws t", that are carried by levers w 10, that are journaled under the bed a and are operated by cams on w on the main shaftj. The jaws on the far side of the twister may be of any desired shape; but those on the side where the wire enters are formed as shown indetailin Fig. 11, thelower halfof the movablejaw being pr vided with a knife or cutter 11/, projecting beyond the face ofthejawandadaptedto enterarecess (t il1 the face of the opposing fixed jaw. As the leading end b of the wire completes the circle of the mandrel it passes above the running part 0 so that when the jaws come together the end 6 is simply gripped, while the part c is cut, thus severing the hoop from the running part and leaving the two portions securely held by the grippers on each side of the twister. In order to hold the gripperjaws open and at the same time keep the lower end of the levers w in working contact with the cam 00, the levers are connected by a bar d with a spring-pressed lever 6 that is pivoted to a lower cross-bar of the frame and is pressed inwardly at its upper end by a spring f which is arranged to react between the outer side of the lever and washers carried by short rods g projecting from the bed a.

The semicircular hoop-clamp It, before described, is operated from the movable jaws of the gripper by means of a barb). (Shown in detail in Fig. 7.) This bar is provided with a forked hook t at its front end, which catches over pins on the inner sides of the jaws t" i), so that when the jaws are moved the bar will be operated. At its rear end the bar is adjustably connected to an arm ver r of the clamp, the bar being provided along its length with a series of perforations, into any of which may be tapped one or more headed screws Z that pass through slots in the arm and fasten the two parts together. As shown in Fig. l, the forked end of the bar straddles the twister-casing and lies between the two jaws o n, so that the pins m m on the inner sides of the jaws will engage the hook and cause the bar to move endwise as the jaws are opened and closed, and it is to be noted that considerable play is provided between the hook and the pins, so that the bar may move independently of the gripper-jaws in one direction and the jaws in closing may move some distance before they operate thebar. The clamp is closed and held normally against the ring I) by aspring n mounted on the front end of the bar 71 and which reacts between a lug 0 thereon and the side of the twister-casing. At this time the gripper-jaws are open; but just before the jaws close the pins m m pull the bar it forward and separate the clamp from the ring b thereby opening the groove 0', and in orderto hold the clamp away from the ring until the jaws are again completely opened a lock is provided consisting of a spring-pressed trigger p sliding up through the bed a and controlled by the cam 38' on the shaft 7' through the intermediacy of aleverr that is pivoted to the lever e or to any other 'part of the machine and has a link-like connection s with the trigger.

In the revolution of the shaftj the cam 00 engages the le- The trigger is therefore withdrawn, and the clamp closes the groove 0 before the leading end of the wire reaches the ring 11 and the clearance between the hook 2' and the pins m m is due to the fact that the gripper-jaws move back before it is time for the bar k to close the clamp 75 against the ring 17 a The discharger for the completed hoops is best shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 9. In consists of a pair of parallel bars 29 t*, that are held at such distance apart by a spacing-block as to straddle the twister-casing, as shown in Fig. 1. At its rear end the bars are united by a pin of, that plays in an elongated slot or keeper 1& and forms a sliding pivot for the discharger. Ata point about mid way of their length the bars 15 are connected to a pin o that is carried by the upper end of a rod 10 and projects laterally from each side of the discharger into cam-grooved guides 00 secured to the bed of the machine. The rod 20 is connected at its lower end to one arm of a bell-crank lever if, that is pivoted to a crossbar and has a roller (1 on its other arm, that is held by a spring a in operated relation to a cam a on the shaftj alongside the cam 00'. The rotation of the shaft causes the bell-cran k to rock and raise and lower the front end of the discharger, and the cam-grooved guides cause it to move back and forth toward and from the slot b" in the twister-casing, so as to catch the hoop when the twisters have united the ends and lift the hoop out of the twister, so that it can be grasped by the operator and lifted out of the former, all as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The guides 03 00 are open on the side toward the bars forming the discharger, and each has a cam-latch b pivoted in it and shaped, as best shown in Fig. 9, so as to cause the pin 0 to travel around the interior of the guides, so as to give the discharger its endwise motion in a manner that will be readily understood from the drawings. The latches are held with their points normally against the vertical wall of the guides by springs b, which are connected at one end to short arms b projecting from the axes of the latches, and at their other ends are attached to the rear end of the discharger. In this way the springs hold the latches yieldingly and also serve to pull the discharger forward and insure the pin 11 traveling around the lower part of the guides in the direct-ion of the arrow in Fig. 9. As the rod 10 rises the discharger is lifted, as shown in dotted lines, and as the rod falls the pin 22 travels downward along the upper side of the latches b and the discharger is lowered and its end withdrawn into a position ready to be again advanced, so that its forked end 19 will catch the hoop as soon as the twister stops.

The construction being as thus described, the operation of the machine is briefly as follows: \Vire being taken in strand from a reel or coil is carried by the feed-rolls through the guide d into the annular mandrel or former, passing on its way through the slots in the twister and its casing and through the gripper, whose jaws are normally open. The wire is pushed endwise of the feed-rolls around the groove 0 on the interior of the semi-annular rings 1) 1) until the leading end passes above and overlaps the running part, as shown in Fig. 1. While the gripper-jaws are open the clamp is is held against the ring 17 thereby closing the groove in this ring and holding the wire therein. After the leading end of the wire has been lapped over the running part, as just described, the roll f is lifted out of contact with the rollfand the feeding of the wire ceases. The gripper-jaws 'v i) then immediately close, and the cutter 1 severs the wire included in the hoop from the supply part and holds the overlapped portions of the wire on each side of the twistercasing, the leading end 0 passing above the cutter, as shown in Fig. 11. The twister then revolves and forms a reversed twist in the overlapped wires, as shown in Fig. 10, and the twister is stopped with its slot connecting with the slot 19 in the twister-casing. The

hoop-discharger, which up to this time has not projected across the line of the wires, is now advanced until its forked end catches the hoop on each side of the twister-casing, when the discharger is lifted into the position shown in Fig. 2, raising the hoop out of the twister and from between the gripper-jaws.

The operator then seizes and removes the completed hoop from the mandrel, the clamp 70 being held open by the trigger long enough for the hoop to be removed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination of the upper feed-roll, the yoke in which it is mounted, the pivoted arm 3, the rod t adjustably connected therewith, the lever u, the cam 11 for operating the lever, and the spring 00 on the rod.

2. In a wire-hoop machine, the cam of the upper feed-roller, the yoke in which it is mounted, the pivoted arm 3, the wheel Z on the main shaft, the cam 7) adj ustably secured to the wheel, and the rod connecting the arm 8 to a lever it operated by the cam.

3. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination of the twister Z, the casing inclosing it, the gripper-jaws on each side of the casing, the annular mandrel having the ring 5 the clamp 70 cooperating with the inner surface of the ring, and a connection between the clamp and the movable jaws of the gripper.

4. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination of the twister Z, the casing inclosing it, the gripper-jaws on each side of the casing, the levers w,'w, carrying the movable jaws of the gripper, the spring-pressed lever e to which the levers w, w are link-connected, and the cam 00 for operating the jaw-levers.

5. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination with the semi-annular ring 6 of the mandrel or former, of the clamp 70, the spring n for holding the clamp normally against the ring, means for automatically withdrawing the clamp, and a releasable trigger or lock for holding the clamp open.

6. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination with the ring 11 of the mandrel, of the clamp 7t having the operating bar h with a hooked end, the movable jaws v, v of the gripper having a pin m the spring 12 for closing the clamp.

7. In a Wire-hoop machine, the combination with the ring 12 of the mandrel, of the clamp 7c having the operating-bar 72 the trigger 19 link-connected to a lever T and the cam g for operating the lever to release the trigger.

8. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination with the ring 1) of the mandrel, of the clamp It having the arm Z, the operating-bar 71,2, and screws Z playing in slots in the arm, and adapted to be connected to the bar at different points to adjust the throw of the clamp.

9. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination of the plate a, the semi-annular rings 1), b the latter adjustable toward and from the former on the plate, and the removable blocks h interposed between the ends of the rings and interchangeable with blocks of different sizes to fill the space between the rings as they are adjusted.

10. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination of the semi-annular ring I) of the mandrel, the filling-blocks], j cooperating therewith, the semi-annular ring b adjustable toward and from the ring 17, the clamp 70 cooperating With the ring the operating-rod h for the clamp, and an adjustable connection between the clamp and the rod.

11. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination with the discharger, of the cam-guides 50 the pin on the discharger working therein, the bell-crank g having one arm link-connected with the discharger and the other operated by a cam a and the spring a for holding the bell-crank in operative relation to the cam.

12. In a wire-hoop machine, the combination with the twister Z, the shaft 0 for operating the twister, the shaftj for driving the shaft 0, the mutilated gearp on the shaftj having the large tooth t at the front end of the toothed portion, the pinion g on the shaft 0' meshing with the gearp, and a large tooth on the pinion cooperating with the tooth t of the gear.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT J. BATES.

Witnesses:

JOHN PATON, JESSIE O. DICE. 

